The nearly simultaneous and completely coincidental occurrences of a near miss by an asteroid and the biggest meteor to hit the Earth in more than a century have prompted a lot of questions. There is so much that is fascinating about these objects, from their danger (one will eventually be on a collision course with [...]
At about 2:30 p.m. EST on February 15th, 2013, a 50 meter (150 feet) diameter asteroid will approach within 28,000 km (17,000 miles) of the Earth, traveling at about 8 km/s (18,000 mph). Should you be worried? That depends on your time frame. In the short term: absolutely not. There is NO CHANCE that this [...]
One of the best arguments, perhaps THE best, for a human presence in space is the certainty that there will someday be a civilization-killing asteroid or comet headed our way. It has happened in the past—just ask the dinosaurs—and it will happen again. If we haven’t developed the ability to protect ourselves from such a [...]
Near-Earth Objects Near-Earth objects (NEOs) are of interest to us for several reasons. One is a matter of safety: if an asteroid or comet were to impact the Earth, the consequences could range from local damage to global catastrophe, depending upon the size of the object and the velocity of impact. Another reason for our [...]
